1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for hand-carrying wound coils of filamentary material and in particular to such devices in which various diameter wound coils of filamentary material, such as telephone wire or cable, may be retained in a hand-held carrier to enable such wire or cable to be drawn from the inside of the coil with the coil retained in the carrier by slidable spaced, opposed carriage assemblies, the height of which are simultaneously adjustable to accommodate different diameter wound coils; and a pair of filamentary material guide cones, one guide cone removably engaging one of the spaced, opposed carriage assemblies and inserted into the adjacent open end of the wound coil, and the other guide cone removably engaging the opposite carriage assembly and being inserted into the other adjacent open end of the wound coil.
2. Background Information
Wound coils of a filamentary material, such as wire or cable, are frequently retained in some sort of a hand-held carrier while the wire or cable is drawn from the wound coil and also enabling the wound coil to be transported from one area within a job site, or to a different job site.
Wound coils that are encased in shrunk wrap require a carrier to retain the wound coil as the shrunk wrap skin is very slippery and difficult to hold by hand. Thus, shrunk wrap wound coils must be retained by some mechanical retention means while the wire or cable is withdrawn from the inside of the coil at a job site.
Preferably, the hand-held carrier should be convenient to carry with a wound coil of wire or cable retained therein and afford a readily adjustable means for retaining variable diameter, shrunk wrap wound coils of wire or cable with a provision for mounting a wire guide cone in each end opening of the wound coil to stabilize the wound coil and enable the wire to be withdrawn from the inside of the wound coil, for example as is common with REELEX-type coils in which the filamentary material is wound in a figure 8 configuration with a radial hole extending from the outer wind to the inner wind, and the filamentary material is withdrawn from inside the wind, through the radial hole. REELEX is a trademark owned by the assignee of the present invention and registered under Registrations Nos. 1,000,554 and 1,259,164.
Furthermore, the hand-held carrier should be light in weight and made of durable material to withstand the rigorous use experienced at actual job sites where the wire or cable is being installed.